News and notes from each week of NASCAR racing using a Las Vegas oddsmaking perspective

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Driver Chassis Selections: 2013 Pure Michigan 400

Johnson bringing same chassis that almost reeled in Biffle in June

#2-Brad Keselowski: Primary Chassis for Michigan is PRS-841 which last raced at Michigan in June and finished 12th. The Backup Chassis is PRS-838 which last raced at Darlington and finished 32nd.

#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Kenny Francis will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-809. Most recently, Kahne drove this car to a third-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. In 19 Sprint Cup starts at Michigan International Speedway, Kahne has one win, seven top-five finishes, eight top-10s and has led 63 laps. He has two pole positions at the two-mile oval and won from the top starting spot in June 2006. Kahne s average start there is 10.8, and his average finish is 16.9. Most recently in June at Michigan, Kahne led 14 laps and was leading when his right-front tire blew that resulted in him making contact with the Turn 2 wall. The incident ended Kahne s day, and he was credited with a 38th-place finish.

#9-Marcos Ambrose: The #9 DeWalt team will bring chassis No. 840 this weekend. The team last competed with the chassis at Kansas Speedway in April.

#10-Danica Patrick will pilot Chassis No. 10-781 was first used by Patrick in March at Auto Club Speedway, where she started 40th and finished 26th. She then drove this car in April at Kansas, where she started 25th and finished 25th. Patrick then used the car during the Sprint Showdown and the Sprint All-Star Race in May at Charlotte, where she finished ninth in the Showdown and 10th in the All-Star race. The last time this car was used was in June at Michigan where Patrick started 37th and finished 13th.

#14-Austin Dillon: Chassis No. 14-735 debuted in the 2012 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis where Tony Stewart qualified 28th and rallied to score a top-10 finish. Chassis No. 14-735 made its second career start in October 2012 at Kansas. It was impressive as Stewart used it to overcome a 33rd-place starting spot, a botched pit stop, an incident with Jeff Burton and a lap-166 spin to finish fifth. The car made its third career start in the 2012 season finale at Homestead. There, it rallied to a top-20 finish after starting 35th and dealing with handling issues throughout the 267-lap race. With 2013 Chevrolet SS bodywork covering it, Chassis No. 14-735 returned to action in May at Charlotte. It rallied again, coming from 25th in the field to lead six laps before finishing seventh. The car s fifth career start and second of 2013 was slated to come in June at Michigan, but a crash in the opening minutes of the weekend s first practice session sidelined the car. Now rebuilt, Chassis No. 14-735 returns to Michigan in August with interim driver Austin Dillon, who is subbing for the injured Stewart.

#15-Clint Bowyer: Primary chassis 781 is new to the MWR fleet and has never been raced. Backup chassis No. 724 has served as a backup several races in 2013, but not raced.

#16-Greg Biffle: and the Matt Puccia led #16 3M Ford Fusion team will bring primary chassis RK-863, which is a brand new chassis. Backup chassis RK-817 is the same car that won at Michigan in the spring and one year ago at this same race. Biffle has 21 Sprint Cup career starts at Michigan, earning four wins, 10 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. Michigan is Biffle s second-best average finishing track. His average finish is 11.3 from an average starting position of 13.5.

#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: and the #17 Fifth Third team will be using primary chassis RK-820, which last raced at Dover and finished 13th. The backup chassis is RK-827, which raced numerous times by #99 team in 2012. Stenhouse made his first Sprint Cup start at MIS in June finishing 16th after the rookie was forced to pit early due to debris on the grille. Before the cycle of pit-stops circled through an untimely caution flew one lap later leaving Stenhouse at the tail end of the field.

#21-Trevor Bayne: The team will use the same Ford Fusion it ran at MIS on Father s Day, and it will be back in its familiar red-and-white paint scheme instead of the black-and-white colors used at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to honor Henry Ford s 150th birthday. Veteran crew chief Donnie Wingo said he and his Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew are determined to do their part to help Bayne steer Chassis No. 745 to a strong finish in Sunday s Pure Michigan 400.

#22-Joey Logano: Primary Chassis for Daytona is PRS-857 which last race at Michigan in June and finished 9th. The Backup Chassis is PRS-839 which has been a backup at several races but never raced

#27-Paul Menard will pilot chassis No. 428 at Michigan International Speedway. This #27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet SS was raced previously this season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Menard drove it to a 12th- place finish. Menard has 14 starts at Michigan International Speedway. His best start of fourth came earlier this season and best finish of fourth took place in 2011. The Wisconsin native has completed 2,764 of 2,810 laps attempted (98.4 percent) at the Brooklyn, Mich., track, leading 15 of them.

#29-Kevin Harvick: will pilot chassis No. 425 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in the Pure Michigan 400. This Rheem Chevrolet was most recently driven to a 10th-place finish at Kentucky Speedway in June. Since his first appearance at Michigan International Speedway in June of 2001, Harvick has made 25 starts at the two-mile, D-shaped oval. In those 25 starts, the California native has collected one win (August 2010), four top-five and nine top-10 finishes. Harvick holds an average starting position of 18.2 coupled with an average finishing
position of 14.3, has completed 99.2% (4,860 of 4,901) of the laps contested and led 149 circuits.

#31-Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 372 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. This #31 Cheerios Chevrolet was utilized twice this season at Bristol in March and Kentucky in June. This weekend's 400-mile event marks Burton's 40th start at the two-mile facility and 678th-career Sprint Cup Series entry. Burton has garnered four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes at the track, along with two pole awards in 1996 and 2006. He has also led 76 laps at the Brooklyn, Mich.-based race track.

#39-Ryan Newman will pilot Chassis No. 39-733, which debuted at Indianapolis in July 2012, when Newman recorded a seventh-place finish. The crew turned the car around in just a couple of days and took it to Pocono, where it finished sixth. Two weeks later, the chassis was back on track at Michigan, where it finished eighth. The chassis earned its first top-five finish at Chicago. The chassis next raced three weeks later at Dover. The chassis made its last start of 2012 at Kansas in October, when Newman was involved in an incident that forced him to retire from the event prematurely. Chassis No. 39-733 was outfitted with a new front clip and a Chevrolet SS body over the offseason, and saw its first laps of 2013 at Kansas in April, when Newman finished 14th. He then raced this Chevrolet SS to a 10th-place finish at Darlington. Newman again raced Chassis 39-733 at Pocono in June, where he recorded a fifth-place finish. Newman was in contention to score another top-10 finish with Chassis 39-733 at Kentucky in June, but a late-race restart saw him shuffled to 14th when the checkered flag waved. Then, Newman qualified the car on the pole and led 45 laps en-route to earning his first win of the 2013 season in last month s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Most recently, Newman overcame a series of slow stops on pit road at Pocono earlier this month to record a fourth-place finish.

#43-Aric Almirola:: The #43 Eckrich team will race chassis No. 843, the same chassis they competed with in June at Michigan.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: will drive chassis No. 784 at Michigan, which last raced at Michigan in June and finished 28th. Chassis No. 797 serves as the backup.

#55-Mark Martin: Primary chassis is 780, which has not race yet in 2013. Martin owns five victories in 55 starts at MIS. He s posted 18 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes while leading 965 laps. He became the oldest Michigan pole winner on Aug. 19, 2012 at - 53 years, 7 months, 10 days. The deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Michigan was 32nd, by Martin in the spring of 2009.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.: crew chief Steve Letarte and the #88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-716. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to lead 34 laps at Michigan last June. Notably, this is the same chassis Earnhardt drove to Victory Lane in Michigan in June 2012. In 28 Cup starts at Michigan, Earnhardt has recorded two wins, two pole positions, six top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He has completed 98 percent of all laps he's attempted (5,383 laps of 5,495 total) and led 327 laps.

#99-Carl Edwards the #99 Geek Squad team will unload RK- 854 which last ran at Michigan where Edwards landed his eighth top-10 finish. In his previous 18 starts, Edwards has two wins, nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. His average start at Michigan is 19.9, his average finish is 8.2. He has completed 99.2% of the laps he has attempted at the two-mile track. Only four times in his previous 18 starts has Edwards finished outside the top 10.